Final days at ‘The Spa’ complex include uncertainty, eye to future

As Dennis Snapp sat in the cramped Paradise Spa homeowners association office Wednesday afternoon, a homeless man approached its sliding glass door entrance. “Turtle, come in here for a second,” Snapp said. Turtle, a slender 36-year-old man whose real name is Jason Franklin, isn’t on the books as a resident at Paradise Spa, a sprawling and dilapidated complex along Las Vegas Boulevard about 5 miles south of the Strip that once was home to 384 single-story condo units. But he said he lives there.

So do at least a few dozen other renters and homeowners, but everyone — whether they are paying residents or not — will need to “vacate their units and the property” by Aug. 30, according to an order filed July 1 in Clark County District Court.

Taylor Morrison, a multistate homebuilder firm based in Arizona, has a $30 million deal in place to buy the 27-acre property for future development. That would mean leveling what’s left of this city within a city.

On Wednesday, some expressed anxiousness about the future. One homeowner and resident, Randy Frie, seemed to believe there might be a way for him to stay come September.

“If I don’t go, I suppose I’ll end up in jail,” Frie said. “But what do they want to do — create more homeless?”

A ‘beautiful place’

At one time, after it was built in 1965, the complex was a well-known upscale spa resort, complete with pools, a lake and beautiful green spaces.

As recently as about 35 years ago, unit owner Jim Pazargad said he remembers a “beautiful place in the desert with green grass and beautiful trees.”

After happening upon Paradise Spa following his move to Las Vegas back then, Pazargad made it a point to buy one of the homes.

“I loved the place back then,” Pazargad said. “There was nothing but desert around it at that time, and it was truly like a paradise.”

On Wednesday, however, Paradise Spa appeared as it has for years — a cross between an old urban public housing complex and a Mad Max movie set.

“It hasn’t been safe for people to live in these units,” Pazargad said.

Palm trees remain, though they haven’t been trimmed in years. The greenery is gone. Homeless men and women can be seen walking around and, in some places, parts of the walls of buildings that have been torn down remain.

There’s old furniture that has been cast away — a mattress, a couch a barbecue grill.

Snapp, 65, who is president of the Paradise Spa HOA, said as recently as 2020, there was a staff of five people who worked for the association. Now it’s just him.

“I’m the old man here, and I look out for everyone,” Snapp said. “Take Turtle, for instance. Either myself or Metro tell Turtle to get out of here almost every day. If Turtle has been here for 17 years, and nobody can get rid of him, I have the choice of making peace with him or fighting with him every day.”

When Turtle first came to “The Spa,” he was a renter, but he fell on hard times about seven years ago and lost his place. He just never left.

He said he’s not sure what he will do come September.

“I haven’t thought about it yet,” Turtle said. “This is home. I just move from house to house inside of here. I’m worried about what is going to happen.”

Turtle said he doesn’t want to end up living in the “tunnels,” the flood channels where some homeless people in Las Vegas live. He said his dog, Buddy, probably wouldn’t like that either.

“When it floods down there, the water would be like eyebrow-high,” said Turtle, who stands about 6 feet, 2 inches tall. “Being homeless in Las Vegas … it sucks.”

As Turtle and Snapp talked, other homeless people wandered in to get a bottle of water or a Pall Mall cigarette from Snapp. There was Jesse, who lives in a nearby wash area, and Chris and Michelle.

On the wall inside the office, just above the bookcase with a long kitchen knife on top of it, there’s a calendar with X-ed out days.

“Thirty-eight days,” Snapp says to everyone who comes in.

The deal

Taylor Morrison’s deal to buy the property — following a court-ordered sale — is set to close in September. The company, through a spokesperson, on Thursday declined to reveal much about its plans, other than to say that more details will be available in the coming weeks.

“Taylor Morrison is still in the due diligence process,” the spokesperson said in an email. “If all goes well, we should have a tentative map in September. Then, the next step is acquiring our entitlements for this property.”

Paradise Spa is in District A, Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft’s district. Naft said there are still hoops the homebuilder will have to jump through, but he said he’s excited about the pending project.

“This is kind of a legendary site in Southern Nevada,” Naft said. “There’s a long history there. Unfortunately, it has fallen into a challenging position in recent years. We’ve been working for some time on this site.”

A troubled history

The complex has a long history of disturbances, including a deadly fire that broke out in the early morning hours of Nov. 23.

In 2016, eight living units at Paradise Spa burned, displacing 20 people. In 2012, a blaze caused $150,000 in damages and displaced two people.

Parvin Pazargad, 93, died as a result of the November fire in unit 354, where she lived. Investigators ruled the fire accidental.

Pazargad, according to the Clark County coroner’s office, died of “thermal injuries and inhalation of products of combustion.”

As her brother, Jim Pazargad, put it, that’s one of the ways you hope you don’t die.

“She burned to death,” Pazargad said. “She was screaming. Others in the unit were injured. It’s something I think about all the time. I didn’t want for her to die that way.”

Pazargad, a former president of the HOA before Snapp, owns four living units at the complex, but he said the one where the fire happened was owned by Levy Affiliated LLC, a real estate investment firm based in Santa Monica, California.

Parvin Pazargad’s estate, through a Las Vegas law firm, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Clark County earlier this month against Levy Affiliated LLC and its subsidiaries.

Snapp and Pazargad said Levy Affiliated owns over 200 units at Paradise Spa. Pazargad, who is on the board of the HOA, alleged that Levy Affiliated has had a long pattern of “negligence” when it comes to the units it owns.

In the complaint for the lawsuit, Levy Affiliated is accused failing to “inspect, maintain and control” the premises “by permitting a dangerous and inappropriately inspected” living environment.

Efforts to reach Levy Affiliated and Shaoul Levy, who according to the firm’s website is its founder, for comment were unsuccessful.

‘Fires, shootings, fights’

Snapp said that only 35 owners are up to date with their association fees. There are just over 100 unit owners, Snapp said.

The legal wrangling at Paradise Spa has been going on for years, always complicated by the number of unit owners and investors who have, at different times, swooped in.

“It’s too old and it’s long overdue for it to be gone,” Pazargad said. “Fires, shootings, fights. It long ago became a dangerous place. I’m sure the police and fire departments will be glad when the place is gone.”

Naft agrees.

“It’s been really hard on our police department and fire department,” Naft said. “I am really enthusiastic about the future of that site. I’m also cognizant that some individuals are going to be displaced. Taylor Morrison is a quality builder, and I think they’re going to put out a product that’s going to appeal to a lot of people.”

Moving time

Back at the complex, Frie walked into Snapp’s office. He lobbied for his case.

He would later lead a tour of his place, unit 131, which is full of boxes, power tools, clothes and other items. Near the kitchen, there’s a Target shopping cart and on a dresser, an old payphone.

Frie said he has connections back home in New Jersey, but he’s worried about financing a move there. In the office, he bantered with Snapp for a few minutes, but Snapp wasn’t having it.

“Randy, I promise you, you’re not going to be able to delay this,” Snapp said.

Frie said he wants his portion of the sale price before he leaves, though Snapp would later say that Frie said he would be out by Aug. 30.

Depending on outstanding HOA dues and other factors for each unit owner, Snapp said owners will get somewhere in the neighborhood of $80,000 per space.

For now, the Paradise Spa community remains, though its days are numbered, a fact made apparent by Snapp’s calendar in his office.

“I might be here come Aug. 30 dealing with some people who don’t want to go,” Snapp said. “That might be Randy Frie. We’re going to have to see how it goes.”

Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.